Last month was Band-Aid’s 40th anniversary and for four decades, their song, ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ has been re-recorded to address African humanitarian crises.
You may have read some of the conversation this past month about the harm caused by the song, from Ed Sheeran, to British-Ghanaian rapper Fuse ODG, to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. There was also a hashtag #StopBandAid, and a petition to stop the BBC from releasing a planned documentary.
I am writing this article to give my views about the campaign and what needs to be done. I believe the song is irrelevant in the 21st century because the global development sector has worked very hard to correct past errors through strategies that centre African voices such as localisation, decolonisation of aid, and shifting power.
Yes, we know it's Christmas
‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ was first released in 1984, by British and Irish musicians, to raise funds for famine relief in Ethiopia. It became a massive hit, inspiring subsequent projects like USA for Africa’s campaign ‘We Are The World’. In 2014, the original song was re-recorded to raise funds for West Africa's Ebola epidemic.
The song came out of a particular moment in global development history. The 80s are considered the Golden Age of Charity Campaigns, as we saw massive celebrity-driven philanthropic movements. Many of these campaigns and movements sprung from intentions of wanting to do good, but had the unfortunate effect of defining the world’s portrayal of Africa, in a way that Africans have been working for decades to deconstruct.
‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ is full of lyrics and imagery that portray an Africa that is far from real life. For instance, the song describes a land “Where nothing ever grows, no rain nor river flows’, which does not accurately describe a continent that holds 60-65% of the world's remaining uncultivated arable land. And the central idea that Africans are disconnected from global traditions like Christmas is strange for a continent where the majority of the population is Christian.
Perhaps worse, the song defines Africa as homogenous, portraying the continent as a single, monolithic place of suffering, entirely erasing our abundant diversity. The 2014 version’s portrayal of the Ebola epidemic, which homogenises the whole of West Africa, conveniently forgetting that a country like Ghana remained Ebola-free. As Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s says in her talk Dangers of a Single Story: "That is how to create a single story: show a people as one thing, as only one thing, over and over again. And that is what they become.”
Finally, the song portrays a white saviour narrative, with the artists framing themselves as the redeemers of a powerless, voiceless continent. This is underlined by the ‘us vs them’ paradigm in the line “Tonight thank God it's them instead of you”. The line leaves one wondering whether the song means that being African should be seen as a punishment.
I am not saying that Africa does not have problems. We do. But there is a need for the Global North to dignify and recognise the beautiful side of our continent and its people. And we need to replace charity over structural change.
A better approach is possible
We are currently living in the aftermath of the charity culture that resulted from projects like Band-Aid – characterized by short-term interventions from the Global North, instead of African-led solutions.
Fortunately, we are at a moment when concepts like community philanthropy are on the rise. Some in the global development sector have worked hard to correct systemic issues that have in the past hindered progress and solidarity, and we are seeing emergent approaches that show what true development looks like when Africans are at the centre of decision-making processes.
One example is participatory grantmaking, where communities closest to the challenges are given the power to make decisions on how grants should be used. The approach reminds me of a quote I learned early this year at a conference, ‘nothing about us, without us’. One iNGO using this approach is Transform Trade, which is working farmers in Kenya to address systemic issues. Another is NOORSAC, a Ghanaian organisation, that has used participatory grantmaking to shift power dynamics, and led communities to see themselves as chief participants and decision-makers rather than just recipients of aid.
Besides these new approaches to development, Africans have traditionally lived in communal spaces and have employed collective measures to solve problems. We have seen practices such as Harambee from Kenya which has been used by Kenyans, where they collectively raise resources for a communal cause such as the construction of key amenities such as schools and hospitals or raising money towards a community member’s hospital bill or school fees.
Inasmuch as Harambee has been politicised by elites who use it as a means to serve their interests, the ideology is still relevant and is used by Kenyans today. Digital platforms, such as M-Changa, have been used to mobilise resources, such as during this year’s Kenyan Gen-Z protests, which saw over $230,000 raised to support medical bills for victims of police brutality.
With all that said and done, it’s time for Band-Aid to listen to what Africans are saying. The minute we let go of power and centre communities, the more we will see sustainable impact. Let’s hope and pray there won’t be a Band-Aid at 50 in 2034.
